4.00pm

Yesterday
a student set fire
to the meeting room
I came out
in empathy
hid in a cave
and upset a techie
but drank his coffee anyway
thick, strong, black
needed

Japanese characters
show me
what a broken heart
looks like
I think I already know
but I like their lines
I wash them down
with chamomile tea
and talk small
of autumn
in the other hemisphere
and hard rains
feeding rivers
that run brown

Somewhere
an alarm bell
gets stuck
howling in memory
crying out
for the flames of passion
I meet an angel
carrying a trophy
through the discordant
siren song

Calculated words
glow blue
conjured
by the number
magician
He stands by the window
where the phoenix palm burns
against a sky
of grey and purple
perfectly bisected
by a silver line

Penguins are imported
into icy text boxes
I type seahorse
without
hyphenation
and go
turtle hunting

Psychologist
clever guy
hands out strategies
on yellow post it notes
The overhead fan
(newly acquired and used
in appreciation)
blows them from our hands
even before
we have claimed them
and stamped them with our
whorled ID
They spin and flutter wildly
pushed by forces
beyond control
like us

I leave
before the guy finishes speaking
This meeting doesn't need me
my day here is done
and already
tomorrow's shadow
is too close